Kielce pogrom

„But almost all sources agreed that the militia had been responsible to a great extent for the massacre, not only in failing to keep order but in the actual killing of the victims, for many had been shot or bayoneted to death…(p. 248). Yet no members of the militia had been brought to trial…the underlying cause of the pogrom was the growing anti-Semitism which, even our Jewish sources admitted, was caused by the great unpopularity of the Jews in key government positions. These men included Minc, Berman, Olszewski (whose real name was said to be Specht), Radkiewicz and Spychalski…It was known, furthermore, that both the U. B. and K. B. W. [Communist secret police] had, among their members, many Jews of Russian origin. (pp. 250-251).” Lane (p. 251) suspects that the „unbelievably inefficient” manner in which the militia and the U. B. (Bezpieka, or UB) had handled this situation points to at least some degree of conspiracy. Otherwise, Lane does not address the issue of whether or not those „mob” members clubbing the Jews were themselves planted Communist agents. He does point out that accusations of the „tardy response of the Church” had been fueled by the coincidental absence of the Bishop of Kielce, Monsignor Kaczmarek (p. 249).
If indeed a staged Communist event, the so-called Kielce Pogrom certainly had the desired effect: „So, emphasis in the United States press was placed on the anti-Semitism still existing in Poland, rather than on the significance of the rigging of the referendum (p. 249).” In other words, the death of a few dozen Jews was deemed more newsworthy than the enslavement of 30 million Poles. What else is new?”